Aaron Judge had a 2017 season for the ages. It concluded with the slugger taking home hardware as the American League Rookie of the Year thanks to a then-rookie record 52 homers. Meanwhile, he finished second in American League Most Valuable Player voting to Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros … a result that has only become more contentious and controversial since Houston’s infamous cheating scandal became public.
Flash forward five years and it has become abundantly clear that Judge’s rookie season will go down as, at the absolute best, merely the second-greatest campaign of his career.